As cold and flu season approaches, it's inevitable that parents will find themselves with a child (or two) in a waiting room filled with other coughing, sick children. If that's not bad enough, keeping a sick toddler from picking up even more germs is not an easy task, as the toys located in the waiting room can often prove too tempting – and wait times can sometimes be too long for a fidgety toddler to tolerate.

So what's the best way to prepare for that next trip to the pediatrician's office? Parents who have braved many waiting rooms with their children over the years and sympathetic pediatricians offer their advice on how to survive wait times – and keep your children from picking up viruses if they are receiving a "well visit."

Many doctor's offices now have separate waiting rooms for both well and sick patients, but that doesn't always help prevent the spread of viruses. "As far as how to keep your children from getting sick while in the waiting room, the easiest answer is to keep them close to you, and not let them wander around playing with other children and the office toys, which may well have been recently coughed on," says Dr. Charlotte Cowan, a Concord, Mass., pediatrician and founder of The Hippocratic Press, where she writes and publishes children's books about common illnesses most children face.

"If they do get down and play with others, it is smart to wash their hands and faces when you get home," says Dr. Cowan, who is also a mother of three.

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